Former Angel infielder Adam Kennedy put smiles on many youth baseball players

A young player holds up a baseball for Adam Kennedy to sign Thursday. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Hundreds of youth baseball players and their coachers were thrilled to find out that former Angel Adam Kennedy, who was part of the World Series team in 2002, was throwing out the first pitch at Irvine Pony’s opening day ceremony for the Memorial Day Tournament.

Pony officials kept Kennedy’s appearance a secret until announcing he was throwing out the first pitch at Harvard Park.

After the ceremony was over, the youngsters surrounded Kennedy asking him to sign baseballs, hats, jerseys or whatever they had. They didn’t see Kennedy play in the Majors, but they quickly found out he was a World Series champion.

Kennedy, who coaches youth baseball himself, made their day by signing as many autographs as he could and even posing with the teams for pictures.

He was patient, cordial and sincere and put smiles on the faces of many.

The event ran smoothly. Tournament director Stacie Sloniger and league president JD Hardin put together and excellent ceremony and emphasized the main theme for the tournament was fun.

They definitely achieved that goal Thursday night.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com